Model updating of uncertain parameters of carbon/epoxy composite plates using digital image correlation for full-field vibration measurement

Abstract

Model updating is usually based on the contrast between the modal characteristics predicted by the models and those experimentally identified. Traditional experimental methods are based on the use of contacting sensors, but more recently other techniques as 3D Digital Image Correlation (DIC) have also been used successfully. In this paper the results obtained by applying these alternative techniques are compared, to obtain physically-sound models of carbon/epoxy composite plates. Primarily a roving hammer exciting the plates at evenly distributed degrees of freedom (DoF), and a mono-axial accelerometer attached to a single DoF reference point, have been used for modal identification. Alternatively, high speed cameras were applied to measure full-field vibrations of the plates. 3D DIC allowed obtaining a lower number of natural frequencies but much smoother mode shapes and similar results for model updating. The experimental setup has been benchmarked using two different sets of plates varying thickness and ply stacking.